Such an insulation-shrinkage prevention device is designed to equip a "prepared" end of such a cable, which end is bared in a staggered manner.
Document EP-A-0199742 describes a splice between two such cables whose ends to be interconnected are prepared prior to splicing. In that splice, the conductors of the two cables are mechanically interconnected end-to-end and are surrounded by a metal adaptor fixed on the respective end portions of the insulation on the two cables. That adaptor is cylindrical and is formed by two semi-cylindrical portions that can be joined together. A one-piece sleeve surrounds and clamps the adaptor and the portions of the cables on either side of the adaptor.
That adaptor is designed so as to have two annular internal walls that are not at the ends of the adaptor, through which walls the respective bared conductors of the two cables pass. The walls form abutments for the respective front faces of the insulation on the two cables. The ends of the adaptor cover the respective end portions of insulation, the outside diameters of which end portions are previously reduced so that the respective outside surfaces of the insulation are in alignment with the adaptor. The ends of the respective outside surfaces of the insulation are anchored by an inside annular rib provided on each end of the adaptor being engaged in a corresponding groove provided on the end portion of the insulation on each cable.
In that splice, in addition to performing its normal function of adapting to the diameters of the insulation, the adaptor also performs the additional function of locking the insulation on each cable relative to the insulation on the other cable. That adaptor therefore requires the dimensioning of the prepared end of each cable to be defined and performed accurately, as a function of the dimensions of the adaptor, and taking into account the way in which the conductors are interconnected, so that the adaptor can be fitted satisfactorily after the conductors have been interconnected. That adaptor makes it difficult to perform the operation of interconnecting the conductors, since the handling of the prepared ends and the forces exerted on the conductors during that operation may give rise to more or less significant shrinkage of the insulation, thereby making it difficult or impossible to fit the adaptor correctly.
Furthermore, such an adaptor cannot be used in a cable termination, and it therefore cannot be used in a termination to perform the additional function that it performs in a splice in that prior art.